Ontario Boreal Forest Half the Size of Texas to Be Protected

It gets harder every day to figure out who to vote for in Ontario if you are a TreeHugger type. It used to be New Democratic Party turf; then the Green Party came along, but one can't overlook the Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty, which has pushed every TreeHugger button including:

But now he has topped it all; he has banned all mining and logging in half of the boreal forest (an area the size of Michigan) and restricted the other half to a "sustainable development" plan worked out with First Nations. "It is, in a word, immense. It's also unique and precious. It's home to the largest untouched forest in Canada and the third largest wetland in the world," McGuinty said.Ontario forest image from Torontoist

Karen Howlett reports in the Globe and Mail:

Native leaders in Ontario have been pushing the government to change the province's mining laws to better protect their interests when companies explore on their traditional lands.

Mr. McGuinty said that permanently protecting the boreal lands also helps a world wrestling with the effects of climate change, as they are a globally significant carbon sink. The region absorbs about 12.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year.

ForestEthics, which has been pushing for the changes for several years, applauded the announcement.

It's the "largest conservation commitment in Canada and raises the bar for environmental protection across this country and around the world," Gillian McEachern said in a statement. ::Globe and Mail